Choose Equality
26 December 2007
Editor, Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
Sally Pipes nicely explains why government statistics on overweight Americans are best taken with a grain of salt ("Brave New Diet," December 26). I applaud also her defense of each person's freedom to choose. More, however, can be said in favor of this freedom: namely, it is required for there to be equality before the law.
Such equality means that no one has the right to play god with the lives of others. But if Jones asserts that he has a duty or a right to order Smith about for Smith's own good, Jones thereby asserts that he is better than Smith - that he has more knowledge than does Smith about Smith's life - or that Jones occupies a higher social rank that accords him the privilege of dictating how Smith must behave. Any such assertion is anathema to a society of free and equal individuals.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
Sally Pipes nicely explains why government statistics on overweight Americans are best taken with a grain of salt ("Brave New Diet," December 26). I applaud also her defense of each person's freedom to choose. More, however, can be said in favor of this freedom: namely, it is required for there to be equality before the law.
Such equality means that no one has the right to play god with the lives of others. But if Jones asserts that he has a duty or a right to order Smith about for Smith's own good, Jones thereby asserts that he is better than Smith - that he has more knowledge than does Smith about Smith's life - or that Jones occupies a higher social rank that accords him the privilege of dictating how Smith must behave. Any such assertion is anathema to a society of free and equal individuals.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Monday May 26, 2008 at 2:16pm